Late At Night
by EnchantedWorlds
Summary: In which Spike wakes up next to Buffy late at night. Post series but fits into the comics.


Author´s note: This is my first time really writing in the Buffy-verse, so if they are totally out of character, you can tell me that. This is set post series, but I think it fits okay into the comics.

* * *

When Spike woke up, his head still hurt. _Guess that´s the side effect of fighting bloody demons all night. _It was still dark outside, so he couldn´t have slept for that long. _Should probably go up and close the bloody curtains. Otherwise I´ll be dust by the morning. _

_Wait? Slayer?! _That´s when he realised, that Buffy was sleeping next to him. Should have been the sodding first thing he realised. But it hadn´t been. The girl was sleeping on the opposite side of the bed, and looked incredibly peaceful in her sleep. Certainly more peaceful, than she did when she was awake. He considered waking her for a moment, but then remembered that it was in the middle of the night.

So instead he settled on laying down on the bed again, once he had drawn the curtains of course. Better not taking any risks. They were in Buffy´s room, in her and Dawn´s flat. He remembered they had talked, and then he must have fallen asleep. It was a little odd how easily, Buffy had accepted having him around again. More than a little odd to be honest. Before when he had come back with his soddin´ soul, she hadn´t had that much of a choice. Or maybe she just hadn´t allowed herself the choice, another thing he couldn´t quite get his head around.

He would have staked him, had he been in her shoes. And not just out of pity. He didn´t like to think about what he had tried to do to her, the one thing he shouldn´t have done. Never. If he had to be honest to himself, he had not really been angry at her when he left, no matter how hard he had tried to convince himself otherwise. He had just been angry at himself, still was.

Yet, here he was sleeping next to her, and she didn´t seem to mind at all. Granted this might have happened by accident, both of them had been exhausted when they came back. But this wasn´t the first time it had happened, she had even specifically asked him once or twice back in Sunnydale after he had got the soul.

She was sleeping on the opposite side of the bed, her face turned towards him. Her short hair was ruffled, and naturally so were her clothes. He hadn´t gotten quite used to the short hair yet. He hadn´t gotten quite used to the new found comfortableness of their relationship. They worked together, they patrolled together, and if he wasn´t kidding himself, she actually seemed to enjoy his company just a little bit. And he himself wasn´t drowning himself in guilt, and had stopped expecting anything from her.

Because he was grateful, grateful for her accepting having him around, because she hadn´t had too. Grateful for seeing her happy, even if those moments could still be rare. The idea that Buffy could ever possibly really fall in love with him, had gone away with the soul´s return. Didn´t make his own bloody feelings smaller though.

He rested his head against the pillow again, _why did she have two pillows again?_ Spike closed his eyes, and tried to get something that resembled rest, it was easier than it used to be. For a 100 years he had stayed awake at night, and slept doing the day. He still preferred sleeping during the day, but the stupid Scoobies always seemed to need his help. And maybe there was a little part of him, that liked helping them to live another day, that was at the very least true with the nit bit. He looked at Buffy again, that was something they shared.

"Thought we were done with the creeping, Spike?" Buffy mumbled into the pillow. She didn´t sound angry though, so he wasn´t in too much trouble yet.

"Sorry Pet, couldn´t sleep," he wasn´t sure if that was a good enough apology, but he honestly hadn´t meant to make her uncomfortable not even the slightest. He hoped it was a good enough apology, and not just because Buffy could stake him if it wasn´t. Not that she was going to, at least he hoped she wasn´t. The thought of becoming a dust pile hadn´t become more appealing over the last ten minutes.

"Oh right," she said as a reply to his previous answer. Her face looked hollow in the faint light, and only made the impression that she was tired more clear. "The whole vampire thing." He snickered, not knowing why he found it funny, and rolled onto his back.

"You haven´t kicked me out yet," he concluded after a few minutes. It didn´t sound accusing or anything, he was just stating a fact, that he didn´t really know why he was stating in the first place.

"What?" Buffy pushed herself up on her elbow sending him a confused look. The short hair was even messier when it wasn´t in contact with the pillow.

"You know, just thought you would when you woke up," he mumbled mostly to himself. He didn´t turn to look at her, and maybe it was because this topic, the topic he had been a big enough idiot to bring up, had a few close hints to the past. The past that neither of them wanted to mention.

"Maybe I am just too tired to kick you out," Buffy said and yawned as if to add to the statement. She was silent for a minute or so before continuing: "Or maybe I don´t mind you accidentally staying." He caught a small grin on her face in the corner of his eye, and that made him smile too. Yes, he had stayed with her in Sunnydale in the time before his amulet had destroyed it, but it was still nice to see, that some of what little trust she felt towards him was still there. He was just not sure if he was worth even that.

"I appreciate that Pet," he answered quietly, and he hoped she could hear that he really did appreciate that. Because he did. They settled into a comfortable silence, a silence that he liked too. It was different from the nights he had spent with her, back before he had gotten his soul. This time it felt like she actually didn´t mind having him around, and to Spike that was worth more than anything else would ever be.


End file.
